The War For Nen
by Reinaa
Summary: Nen is disappearing and war has broken out. Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Illumi, and Hisoka go on an adventure with the aid of a girl that Killua has fallen in love with. Will they be able to save Nen before It's too late? Or will the group lose their Nen and witness the destruction of the world? Please R&R! - Hiatus -
1. Their Fateful Meeting

**[[ Hello loves, I'm back again with another story! I hope you enjoy this one as much as the last one. I've changed a few things like their ages, Hisoka and Illumi are 25, Kurapika and Leorio are 2O, and Gon and Killua are 18. The female lead is also 25 by the way. Please R&R! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! ]]**

* * *

_Remember the days when the skies were clear and shining a beautiful baby blue? There was not a cloud in the sky and the shining sun blinded you as you looked at it. The beautiful big trees filled with all those wonderful sakura petals and the joy you felt when one landed in your hands? The beautiful blue and red birds that flew though the skies? The endless fields of grass and flowers? Remember those moments of beauty and peace? Because… I don't… My village (Ko Village) and its neighboring village, Cloud Village has been involved in a war for the past two months already and I've been locked in these dungeons for over a month and that's not the worst part… I've become blind. My memories of everything are slowly fading away, I'm afraid I don't even remember what a tree looks like… The war is spreading to other villages and… I fear that soon Cloud and Ko Village will be no more…_

* * *

At Cloud Village Military Headquarters, the Generals have all gathered together for a very important meeting. In the meeting room, there is a large rectangular table placed in the middle of the room with many seats placed around the table except for the side of the table closest to the entrance, there is only one seat there and it's for the Leading General. As the Generals all gathered and took their seats, they waited for the General that was to sit in the lone chair.

After a few minutes the Leading General finally arrived, it was Netero and he was wearing his usual blue and white kimono. The other Generals, however, had on their military uniforms but some differed from the others.

On the left side of the table, an older looking gentleman with red hair wore a blue officer vest that reached just a little past his elbows. They were adorned with gold buttons and on his shoulders were gold plates where a chain was hung, the chain had 4 charms on it and it was of a playing cards heart, club, spade, and diamond symbol. He wore fingerless black gloves and red pants that matched his hair. He wore laced tan combat boots that was 3/4 of his leg below his knee. His officer hat was of the same navy blue and gold color with 5 red stars in the shape of a circle in the middle. He sat snug in his chair and he put his legs folded on the table with his hat covering his face.

Another General had long black hair and he wore a dark olive green long sleeved uniform with matching pants, a black belt and black combat boots that was also 3/4 of his leg below the knee. His uniform was simple and plain, he did not like to be flashy like his friend sitting beside him. The uniform was adorned with black buttons and he did not have a matching hat to go with it. He had a badge of 5 gold stars forming the shape of a circle on his left chest.

As for the right side of the table, a younger blonde haired boy wore a white uniform from head to toe with black combat boots and a black belt. The uniform was adorned with gold buttons and he held his white and gold hat under his arm. The hat was also adorned with 5 gold stars forming the shape of a circle. The boy also wore white gloves and his neck collar was accented with gold designs.

Another young boy with silver hair had on a white officer vest that went past his elbows with gold buttons. He wore navy blue pants and white combat boots, he had a matching navy blue hat adorned with 5 gold stars in the shape of a circle.

Another young boy with spiky black hair wore a black tuxedo like officer suit with black combat boots and with gold accents on the wrist areas and neck. The vest was adorned with gold buttons and the boy wore white gloves, he didn't wear a hat and had a badge of 5 gold stars in the shape of a circle on his left chest.

The other 5 Generals wore the uniform specifically made for the forces, they also wore black tuxedo like suits adorned with gold buttons along with black combat boots. They had an arm band on their right arm that was red and there were 5 gold stars in the shape of a circle on there.

"We're in our second month of battle against Ko Village and there has been no reporting's of the witch as of yet." Netero began with a very serious tone. "Due to that witch's spell, our troops with the ability to use Nen is decreasing. Ever since that witch cast the spell to get rid of Nen, more and more of us are beginning to have their Nen extracted from them. Though, how it was possible for any of us to even have a trace of Nen left was remarkable, it seems as if the Witch's spell wasn't as strong as she thought. She is still a very dangerous being, however, she's turned the residents of Ko Village into her puppets and if those puppets find anyone with a source of Nen in them, the puppets will extract the Nen and it will kill the person in an instant."

"They're strong too" The white haired boy added, "When our troops tried to infiltrate their bases, they put up quite a fight. We were able to defeat a few of them but we had to retreat or else we would have been captured but I've learned of something very important during our infiltration."

"What was it, Killua?" The black haired boy asked with a concerned voice.

"They've been holding people captive, I'm not sure of the reason why I just know that these puppets are throwing people in dungeons. I heard there were at least 1O people being held captive but there was also something else that bothered me… I sensed... the presence of Nen…"

"Are you sure it was Nen?" The blonde haired boy asked looking for certainty from Killua.

"Of course it was. I know Nen when I sense it Kurapika, and it was Nen that I felt. I don't know where the source is located but my guess is within the dungeons. We may have to lead a search and rescue mission, Hisoka…" Killua looked straight at the man across the table from him. The red headed man did not react to those words and it seems like he was asleep. He lifted his hat up to reveal his amber eyes and looked at Killua intently, "and are you suggesting that I lead this 'search and rescue mission'?" Hisoka asked with a pleasantly amused expression.

"Only you can lead that mission, Hisoka! I mean, sure Illumi could probably do it too but he might get carried away and kill someone other than his target." The black haired boy explained to Hisoka.

Hisoka gave a stifled laugh and looked at the long haired man sitting next to him, "You hear that Illu-Chan? They even had a reason to not have you lead the mission. Haha, Ne, Ringo-Chan… What makes you think I won't kill someone else either?" Hisoka looked at Gon's eyes and Gon returned his look with determination. "I just know because Hisoka wouldn't kill anyone if there was no enjoyment out of it. That being said, only you could lead the rescue mission and you're very sneaky, you'll be able to get in and out of the place in a snap."

"With that being said" Netero interrupted, "Looks like you're in charge of our new mission Hisoka. Find the source of the Nen, save that person and bring them back to headquarters, if they resist kill them immediately. That is all, meeting adjourned. Return to your squads." Netero stood from his seat and left the room, the other 5 Generals left the room as well.

Killua stood from his seat and looked at Hisoka who did not make one move, "The Nen presence I felt was in the underground entrance to the military base, the military base has a flag of a crescent moon and a star so it shouldn't be hard to miss. Be careful, even if their troops are strong, there are also booby traps down there, whatever or whomever they have down there must be really important to them. Good luck."

Hisoka returned Killua's kindness with a small smirk, "Sounds fun, I'll surely complete this mission without a problem."

"Let's go Gon, we have work to do." Killua walked to the exit with his hands in his pants pockets and Gon followed right behind him.

"Well, it seems like I'll take my leave too." Kurapika stood from his seat and gave a slight bow to Hisoka and Illumi and he left the room. Only Hisoka and Illumi remained in the room and only silence was shared between the two.

"Why… did we even agree to become a part of this?" Illumi asked with an emotionless face.

"It seemed fun" was Hisoka's only reply and he gave a smirk to Illumi.

* * *

_The Next Day_

Hisoka has already set out on his mission but he did not bring any of his squad members with him, he took hold of this mission by himself. As Hisoka made it to the underground entrance, he felt the same Nen presence Killua did a few days earlier. Hisoka was able to evade a few puppets but when he was encountered by one he killed it immediately, he even activated a few booby traps along the way, luckily, Hisoka was able to avoid them easily and escape a near-death experience.

Further along the underground path, Hisoka saw an old door that was locked with a chain but Hisoka was able to easily pick at it. Once he went through the door, the Nen's presence grew stronger and stronger, whoever was the holder of such Nen, was someone with great power. As light finally reached his eyes, Hisoka saw an endless path of dungeons in front of him, he ran to the site of the Nen and he saw a faint shadow behind the bars. As Hisoka was about to pick the lock, a puppet threw knives at Hisoka, Hisoka was able to barely dodge and he took out his playing cards and cut open the bars. The puppet lunged for Hisoka and Hisoka was able to evade his attack and ended up kicking the puppet against another holding cell. Hisoka ran to grab the person in the cell he broke into and immediately made his escape, he made his way back to Cloud Village Headquarters.

. . .

"Doctor, I got a patient for you." Hisoka brought the person he rescued to the emergency aid unit. A man with a medical suit on and a pair of small spectacles turned around to face Hisoka, "Bring her here, she needs immediate medical attention." Hisoka laid her on the medical bed and Leorio immediately went to business. When Hisoka left the hospital room, Illumi was outside the door waiting for him.

"Did you feel it, Illumi, her Nen?"

"You can't miss it, it's strong. How was she able to survive, the puppets should have eaten her already, so why is she an exception?"

"who knows but she might have been valuable to them which means she probably knows something. We should go tell Ringo-Chan and your little brother that she's in our possession now."

"They're in the training room."

"Ahh, my unripe fruits, still training hard~" Hisoka said while licking his lips.

. . .

"Leorio!" Gon yelled as he ran into the hospital room, Gon ended up tripping on his own foot and landed with a 'thud' on the hospital floors.

"Idiot! That's why you're not supposed to run in here like that!" Leorio scolded at Gon and got him an ice pack for his forehead which had a cherry red mark from the fall.

"Where's the patient?" Killua asked a little impatiently. Behind him were Illumi, Hisoka, and Kurapika.

"She's over there" Leorio pointed to a bed that was covered by a curtain that had the tag #4 on it. Leorio looked at the Generals' faces and knew that what was about to happen next was very serious. "You didn't save her because you had to right?"

"No, we had to" Illumi explained.

"But not for my reasons, right?"

"Sorry Leorio, she's very important, we need to talk to her." Killua persisted.

"I understand but I must tell you something before you talk to her."

"No time." Killua walked straight passed Leorio and pulled the curtains open. Sitting on the bed was the most beautiful girl he ever saw. She had long crimson locks and her eyes were a silver color with a sparkle of blue. Her head and arms were bandaged and when she realized there was someone standing next to her, she turned her attention to Killua. Their eyes met and his heart reacted to her beautiful eyes. She gave him a slight smile, "Doctor, may I have a drink please?"

Killua was still stunned at the beauty in front of him and he did not react to her words. Leorio went to the cabinets and made a pot of tea for the girl, he poured it into a teacup and put it on a plate to give to Killua. "Oi, Killua, she said she wanted a drink… and she called you 'doctor'."

"Ahh" Killua, being snapped back to reality gabbed the cup from Leorio's hand and faced the red headed girl, "haha, sorry about that but I'm not a doctor, I'm one of the Generals. Here's a cup of tea for ya." Killua held out the cup in front of the girl and when she tried to each for the cup she missed the handle. This shocked the Generals in the room. She continued to try and get a grip on the cup but she continued to miss and finally Leorio came over to help her. He pulled over a table to place in front of her and took her hand and put it on the table so she would know. "Excuse us for a bit." Leorio then took the curtain and pulled it to a close. "I told you I needed to tell you something important. She's blind. She's been blind ever since the war started from what she's told me so I don't know what kind of information she'll be able to offer. Sorry Killua."

"Do you know how?" Killua asked with his voice full of sadness that he was clearly trying to hide from his fellow Generals.

"I'll explain it to you" the girl spoke from behind the curtain and Kurapika walked over and opened the curtain to reveal the girl. "I am in Cloud Village correct? I will explain everything that I know to you, I want this war to end and I hope my information would be of some help." Illumi, Gon, Killua, and Hisoka walked closer to the red headed girl. She looked over at Hisoka's direction and gave him a small smile, "You were the one that saved me weren't you? Thank you, you're very kind" Hisoka returned her smile with a smirk, "Don't mention it."

"Eh? How did you know it was Hisoka that saved you?" Gon asked with a confused facial expression.

"My ears perceive things better than the average ear, I've memorized his footsteps as well as the voices I've heard so far, I just need a name to go with them." The girl explained.

"If you don't mind… Can we start with your name?" Kurapika asked politely.

"My name is Rima, Tatsuyo Rima."

"Rima… what a beautiful name…" Killua was admiring the beautiful Rima until Hisoka gave a stifled laugh that bought Killua back to reality. "ahem, if you could tell us everything you know Rima."

"Of course. Well it started two months ago, my sister Chiziru found this ancient book that was passed down for generations in my family. You could say it was almost like a spell book but it was powered by Nen. I only know a couple pages of the book but there was one page that interested my sister the most, "Revival of The Dead" I believe she wanted to revive our mother who passed away over 5 years ago in a car accident. That required a lot of Nen though and there was a page in the book that allowed her to steal Nen from others which is the Nen decrease that we're going through now. My sister is stealing Nen so that she could revive our mother."

"If your sister is the one pulling the strings, why were you locked up and why didn't she steal your Nen?" Gon asked very confused.

"If I had to guess, I would say she didn't steal my Nen because she couldn't, just like how she couldn't steal your Nen either. I'm not sure why all Nen wasn't absorbed into her but it seems that she's realized that there was a loophole and that's why she created those puppets to extract Nen out of people. Also, it may have something to do with our Nen chain"

"Nen chain?" Kurapika asked.

"It's something my sister and I invented, when we both learned Nen, we created a Nen chain that connects our Nen together, If one of us ever loses our Nen, the other would lose theirs too, if one of us gets an increase in power nothing will happen to the other person. The Nen chain's sole purpose is to destroy our Nen if one of us loses it. That's probably why she couldn't steal my Nen."

"And… what about your eyes?" Killua asked guiltily.

"My sister destroyed my sight with her Nen, the book has many different spells. I wouldn't know why she would do such a thing but she took away my sight with that book. Actually… It must've been because I was blessed with Mama's eyes and she wasn't… that has to be the reason."

"Is there a way to get it back? Your sight… and the Nen?" Gon asked.

"We must find the book which means we must locate my sister, unfortunately I do not know where she's hidden. All I know is that she is not in Ko Village. She's smart, she wouldn't stay there."

"So we have to look for a book to return the Nen, that's the only way?" Kurapika asked

"Yes. That's the only option we have… unless…"

"You kill her" Hisoka said finishing Rima's sentence.

"That's correct but I prefer we go with our first method."

"As you request" Hisoka said with a smirk.

"Well we should let the Leading General know. He'll assign us our new mission." Kurapika explained.

"Let's go Kurapika" Gon said while walking toward the door with Kurapika following behind.

Leorio left the room to prepare a meal for Rima and when she tried to feed herself, she felt a sharp pain in her arms. She dropped her spoon on the table and was having a hard time finding it. Killua picked up the spoon and offered to feed her. She had a sad expression on her face and apologized, Killua said it was no big deal and gave her a spoonful of soup.

Standing at the wall observing Killua was Illumi and Hisoka. Hisoka had a big smirk on his face while looking at Killua feeding Rima, he turned to Illumi, "Illu-Chan, it seems like your little brother has a crush on someone."

"Nonsense." Was Illumi's only reply.

"You see the way he looks at her and the way he's acting, it's fact. Haha, how amusing!"

"Stop thinking about such things and focus on the mission, if that girl has absorbed a countless amount of Nen, she must be strong. And if it comes down to it, we might have to kill her."

"I know. This will be one interesting mission." Hisoka said with an eerie smile.


	2. The Mission Begins

In the Leading General's Chamber, Kurapika and Gon explained everything to General Netero. Netero nodded to the two Generals with his eyes closed and responded with, "I see. Then it looks like we have a new mission. I appoint you two, Hisoka, Illumi, and Killua as the Generals in charge of this mission. Your task is to find this Chiziru girl and restore the balance of Nen in the world, if it comes down to it… Kill her. I suspect this mission to end in success, if reinforcements are needed, send the carrier owl. Also, that Rima girl will not be joining you in the mission; she will be nothing but a nuisance."

"Understood, Sir" Kurapika said with a voice trying to hide his objection. Kurapika and Gon bowed to Netero and made their way for the exit.

SWISH

"Wait!" Rima rushed into the room with an off-white silk robe on. Running behind her was Killua trying to stop her and trying to get her back in bed. "Rima, you idiot! You are in no condition to be running around!"

"Sir, please! I must go with them, I'm the only one who's able to get the book from my little sister and if your last choice is to kill her, I have something that will kill her without fail. Please, sir. I have to go with them, please…" Rima looked at Netero with saddened eyes, her empty silver eyes that sparkled a light blue color shone brightly, she was practically on her knees, begging to join in on the mission.

Netero took a moment to think about her request, his eyes were closed and he did not say a word, after a while, he asked her, "can you even fight?"

"O-Of course I can!"

"I sense hesitation in your voice, alright, if you say you can fight, you shall report to the training grounds in half an hour, you will be tested in different areas to see if you truly will be a nuisance or not. You all are dismissed."

A smile formed on Rima's face, "thank you so much sir!"

Killua, Gon, and Kurapika couldn't help but to smile at Rima but they knew that the tests Netero were going to give her will be difficult to her due to her lack of sight. Killua walked over to Rima and helped her on her feet, they both bowed to Netero and proceeded to leave the room. Kurapika and Gon bowed and left the room as well.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this Rima?" Kurapika asked in a concerned voice.

"Yes, I must. I'm the only one that can get that book back from my sister and I have to stop her… That has been my mission ever since she cast the spells. My sister won't listen to you guys, she hates the military. That's how our father lost his life after all; he died in the line of duty. To me he died a hero but to my sister he died in such a horrific way that she could not forgive the military for allowing such a thing to happen."

"But are you sure you'll be able to fight back if needed?" Gon asked.

"Of course, don't worry. I'll prove what kind of person I am." Rima gave a big smile to the group of three and they all made their way back to the hospital room.

. . .

It's been half an hour since Netero told Rima to head to the training grounds, Rima was led there by Killua, Kurapika and Gon followed quietly behind the two. The training grounds were located underneath the Military Headquarters and it was a very huge and spacious room. It was an empty room that can be controlled on the outside and the walls were made of steel. The control room for the Training Room was seen through a rectangular window located fairly high above on the wall. In that room, the controller is able to create and design a scenario or location in which the target can practice.

Rima was given a gray baggy sweatshirt with matching sweatpants to allow her to fight with more ease, she was also given black sneakers and a gun holster. Killua handed to her two .22 caliber handguns. She put them in the holsters and thanked Killua.

"Do you even know how to fire a gun?" Killua asked looking a little worried.

"Don't worry, you'll see what I'm capable of in no time." Rima said with a smile.

"Ahem" Netero's voice echoed through the intercom, "Generals, I advise you to leave the room so I can explain to Miss Rima how this is going to go down." The Generals looked through the window of the Control Room and saw Netero, they wished Rima good luck and proceeded to the control room. Once the three Generals left, Netero began to explain how the tests will be executed.

"Alright, we will be administering three tests. The first will test your ability to shoot your target accurately. The second will test your Nen ability and the last test will test your hand-to-hand combat skills. Are you ready to start Miss Rima?"

"Yes."

"Very well, the first test shall begin…NOW." The layout of the training grounds has changed. Obstacles such as boxes, wires, and pipes have appeared. "If you are shot by the moving targets, the test is over. There are a total of 1O targets, do your best to get them all."

Rima immediately dashed behind the boxes to keep herself hidden when a shadow appeared in front of her she immediately reacted and shot the target square in the forehead. She tried to jump onto the pipes when two targets appeared to surround her, one jumped in front of her and the other behind her. They shot at Rima and she was able to dodge the bullets by projecting her weight towards the floor, she took out both handguns and shot the targets in their chest. As she landed with her feet on the floor, she felt the presence of a gun placed next to her head, the target was about to shoot when Rima used her leg to trip the target and shot it twice, both fatal shots. The test only lasted about 15 minutes; Rima was able to annihilate all targets without a single bullet hitting her. This impressed not only the Generals but also Netero.

The room returned to its empty state and Netero's voice was heard through the intercom, "I'll admit, that was impressive. You sure know how to handle a gun. As for your next test, we will be testing your Nen. Usually I would have you use your Nen and the guns since that is what we use in battle but I can't risk having you harm our men. If you could please unload your handguns so we can start the second test."

Rima did as she was told and she took both handguns and unloaded them, the golden bullets falling to the floor. She removed the holsters from her body and threw it as well as the two guns to the side.

"We are now beginning the second test, the next two test will leave the room as it is. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"The second test will begin. Generals, its go time. You have 2O minutes. Begin."

SWISH

From the entrance emerged Hisoka and Illumi. They both walked towards Rima and stopped when they were about 5 feet away from each other.

_On account of the footsteps there are two of them… the man that rescued me and his friend. They're strong, I can sense their Nen, I guess I'll have to wing my way outta this._

Hisoka and Illumi released a bit of Nen and the frightening aura was enough to fill the room with terror but Rima did not waver, she stood firm and faced her opponents.

Hisoka had his card in hand and Illumi had his needles. As they charged toward Rima, two fans suddenly emerged in her hands. The rods of the fan were silver and the fabric was a deep black color. As Rima spread the fans out, red maple leaf decorations were revealed on the fans.

As Hisoka and Illumi split up, they decided to attack Rima from both of her sides, Rima was able to sense their attack and she threw her fans around her which created a fiery vortex that provided as a shield against Hisoka and Illumi's attack. Rima's opponents had to halt their attacks at the risk of being burned by such a strong fire. When her opponents backed away, Rima stopped the fire and the fans returned to her hands.

"Impressive" Illumi stated with no interest shown in his expression.

"5 minutes left" Netero warned over the intercom.

"If that was impressive to you then this will surely be a shock to you." Rima stated with a small smirk. Rima threw her fans at Hisoka and Illumi which circled around them countless times and as the fans were still on the move, Rima brought her right index finger to her lips and blew at the tip of it. A string made of Nen was connected to the fans and the string caught on fire until it reached the fans which trapped Illumi and Hisoka inside a fire barrier. "How's that for you, General?"

"Very impressive indeed." Netero replied over the intercom.

The fire was extinguished by Hisoka's Nen and the fans were returned to Rima, she dispelled the fans and they disappeared from sight.

"I must admit, your ability to fight is quite impressive but I say that you just had quite a bit of luck. Your last test will truly be a challenge for you, hand-to-hand combat, I assure you that it will be a challenge due to your lack of sight. You have 2O minutes to show me what you're capable of. Hisoka, you'll be in charge of this, Illumi, leave the room."

Illumi did as told and left to the Control Room and only Hisoka and Rima were left.

"So you friend's name was Illumi and I believe your name was Hisoka, correct? It was a pleasure fighting with you two, you two are strong Nen users, I hope one day I don't have to go up against you for real."

"That will surely be no problem, not until you get your sight back that is, I would love to fight you one-on-one one day." Hisoka said with a smirk.

"That would be an honor, now shall we begin?"

"The pleasure's all mine" Hisoka lunged at Rima and gave a very forceful punch, Rima was able to shield herself while using her arms to protect her, the punch was strong enough to fling her against the back wall. Hisoka lunged again towards Rima and she was able to block Hisoka's attacks, with the continuous punches she received from Hisoka, she was able to dodge and block all of them. When Rima had the opportunity to return a punch, Hisoka was able to block the attacks just as quickly. Rima and Hisoka spent the 2O minutes dodging and evading attacks with neither side dealing any serious blows.

"Amazing" Kurapika said with astonishment as he was observing the battle from the control room. "She's able to fight on par with Hisoka and her Nen surely was something else but how is she able to effortlessly attack and evade? Her sight should be a huge disadvantage."

"Enough" called Netero over the intercom. "You have proven yourself worthy, you are granted permission to join along with the mission but if you are a nuisance to the Generals, they have received orders to leave you behind."

"Don't worry General, I won't be of any trouble. Thank you very much!" Rima bowed to the control room window and gave a gentle smile. Seeing such a smile made Netero return her smile with a gentle smile of his own. "You will receive a uniform and everyone is to leave for the mission in 4 hours. I will be taking my leave. Do not fail this mission Generals." And with those words, Netero left the control room and returned to his room.

Illumi, Kurapika, Gon, and Killua left the control room and went to the training room to meet up with Hisoka and Rima.

"That was amazing Rima! How were you able to shoot and dodge so well? Are you sure you lost your eyesight?" Gon asked in his usual energetic voice.

"Gon!" Kurapika said in a tone of punishment

"It's okay" Rima explained with her soft voice. "Like I explained earlier, my ears perceive things better than the average ear. I've been like this since I was a little girl, I can recognize a person by the way they talk, the way they walk, and even the way they breathe. I'm able to sense the presences around me and I can hear the movements of a person's body. That's why I was able to dodge and block Hisoka's attacks like that. As for the shooting… I explained that my father joined the military; I was also part of the military. I joined at age 18 and I was let out at 24. It's been a year since then but the training has stuck with me."

"That's amazing… an old military officer, a conjuror, and to be able to sense movement and a person's presence easily is an impressive feat, you really are amazing Rima." Killua said while looking at Rima with sparkling eyes.

"Thank you, err… if you guys don't mind, can we please go over your names?"

"Ahh, that's right. We haven't properly introduced ourselves. My name is Kurapika, nice to meet you." Kurapika gave a gentle smile to Rima.

"I'm Gon, pleasure to meet you!" Gon gave very big smile.

"Killua, pleased to meet ya." Killua put his hands in his pockets and was starting to blush.

"Illumi." Illumi showed no sign of emotions.

"Hisoka" Hisoka also showed no interest, he was getting bored and wanted to leave for the mission already.

Rima gave a smile to the group, "It's a pleasure to be working with the five of you."

* * *

As it was almost time to leave, the Generals made their way to the private jet. It was a very small plane that was made to fly about 8 people, included in the plane were two master bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, and a decent sized kitchen with a stocked fridge and stocked cabinets. The kitchen also had the usual appliances: a stove, microwave, toaster, and blender.

Hisoka and Illumi were the first to get on the plane 2 hours before departure time, they've fallen asleep and were woken up when Gon boarded the plane and was mesmerized by the plane's elegant interior. Kurapika was the next to board the plane and he took a seat next to Gon, who already claimed a window seat.

After about 1O minutes, Killua arrived with Rima and she was wearing her officer uniform. Rima was wearing a black military jacket with a strip of white in the middle with a border of red on both sides. The red part of her jacket was adorned with gold buttons and chains were hanging from the buttons draping over the white strip of fabric. The collar of her jacket was adorned with gold accents and she wore black shorts. She wore black leather thigh high boots and fingerless white gloves. Her crimson locks were put into twin tails and she wore a plain black and gold officer hat.

Seeing Rima in such a tight fitted uniform appealed to Hisoka, he looked up from his nap and gave a small smirk to the red headed girl. Killua instructed the girl to the seat in front of Kurapika and Gon, Killua sat at the other window seat facing Gon and Rima sat at the seat facing Kurapika.

"Wow, you look amazing in that uniform!" Gon announced in a cheery voice.

"Why thank you Gon, you're very kind" Rima gave a small smile and looked to her right, in the direction of Hisoka and Illumi. Hisoka sat in the row Kurapika and Gon were sitting in, he sat in the seat next to the aisle. Illumi sat at the window seat in the seat across from Hisoka's row.

"Everyone please fasten your seatbelts, we will be taking flight soon." The pilot instructed through the intercom of the plane.

Everyone did as they instructed and they all fastened their seatbelts, after a while the plane has set off and they headed toward their destination. After the flight has become smoother, the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign and the passengers were able to explore the plane as they pleased. Gon was the first to explore the plane and when he noticed there were only 3 bedrooms, he brought it to the attention of the other passengers.

"Well I guess we just have to share rooms, the rooms itself are fairly large so sharing should be no problem" Kurapika explained. "You said one of the rooms had a bunk bed right, Gon?"

"Yeah… I call a room with Killua!" Gon said while tackle-hugging his best friend.

"Wait a minute that means Rima has to room with one of us, is that fine with you Rima?" Killua asked.

"ahh, it's fine, I don't mind. You all are very kind, rooming with any of you is absolutely fine."

"Well if it's really fine, would you want to room with me?" Kurapika asked.

"Sure, I don't mind"

"Wait! I didn't agree to rooming with Gon, besides, I can't stand his snoring! I am NOT rooming with him."

"ahh, but Killuaaaaa~" Gon whined while exaggerating the end of Killua's name.

"No, absolutely not"

"Well, how about rooming with me then little brother?" Illumi offered

"On second thought, maybe I'll room with Gon…"

"it's fine, Kil. We have lots of bonding to do anyway." Illumi walked over to Killua and put his arm around Killua's shoulder. Illumi led Killua to another room and Killua couldn't help but feel like his life was in danger.

"Well I guess that settles that." Kurapika said, "that just leaves me, Hisoka, Gon, and Rima. Gon, pick a roommate then, you're calling the room with the bunk beds right?"

"Mhmm… then how about you be my roommate Kurapika?"

"And leave Rima with Hisoka?!" Killua objected as he stormed back to the room with the passenger seats.

"It's fine, Killua. Hisoka seems like a nice person, what's wrong with rooming with him?" Rima asked.

"It's because you don't know what he's like, if you could just see what he looks like you would be objecting to room with him as well."

"If it's really a problem, I'll just sleep on the chairs, the arm rests move up so it's no problem" Hisoka explained.

"But that wouldn't be right" Rima objected. "it's really alright with me, I see no problem with this at all."

"Well you heard her Killua, I guess it's settled then. I'll be rooming with Gon, Killua with Illumi and Rima with Hisoka, you all should rest soon, we reach our destination in 7 hours and it's already so late."

"Fine." Killua said with his hands in his pockets.

Hisoka walked over to Rima and held out his hand in front of her and she turned her head up at him. "It's best if you get some rest, shall I lead you to our room?" Rima put her hand in Hisoka's and gave a smile. Hisoka took a hold of her and brought her to their room, luckily the room had two separate beds for them to sleep on.

Killua watched Hisoka walk Rima to their room with a bit of jealousy. Gon and Kurapika noticed Killua's expression and confronted him about it.

"Ne, Killua, you've been acting weird ever since we found Rima, is there something wrong?" Gon asked with a concerned tone.

"No, of course not… it's just… I think I might like her…"

"Well we all like her, she's really nice and she's really strong too!" Gon said

"I think he means like as in 'a crush'" Kurapika explained to Gon.

"Eh? So Killua, you like _like _Rima?"

"I think so… from the moment I saw her, I felt something different in my chest." Killua grasped his chest with his hand and had a happy expression on his face, "it made me feel warm and happy."

Kurapika and Gon smiled at Killua and they walked towards him telling him that they will support him in his chase for Rima but the fact that he's 18 and she's 25 might be a problem.

"It doesn't matter" Killua said with a happy expression, "She's able to make me feel something I've never felt before, that in of itself is special to me."

"Well as long as you're happy Killua!" Gon said while hugging his friend.

"Thanks Gon and sorry about earlier. I do wanna room with you but I don't think Kurapika will feel comfortable rooming with Nii-Chan. It's getting late you guys, I'm gonna head to bed. Good night." Killua left the seating area and made his way to his bedroom.

"We should head to bed too Kurapika!" Gon yelled as he already reached their bedroom doorway, "I call top bunk!"

A smile formed on Kurapika's face at his young friend's innocence, "just as long as you don't make a mess!"

As everyone settled into their beds, 'Good Night's' were exchanged between the 6 companions. After Kurapika, Gon, Illumi, and Killua have all fallen asleep, Rima and Hisoka were still up surprisingly.

"Ne, Hisoka-San…?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you again… for saving me."

Hisoka gave a small smile while he was resting in his bed, he slowly opened his eyes and his amber eyes shone brightly. He looked towards Rima who was also facing him with her eyes open, they sparkled like the shining moon.

"Why do you choose to keep your eyes open?"

"It helps me feel like my eyesight isn't completely gone… If I close my eyes, I feel like I completely gave up on the hope of ever seeing again."

"But the loss of your eyesight wasn't because of your sister, was it?"

"H-how…?"

"I can tell when a person is lying."

"I see… well my sister _was_ the cause of the loss of my eyesight, when she ordered me to be held in the dungeons, she had me tortured. The repeat abuse I've been through has affected my eyesight. I just didn't want to make her seem like an evil person…"

"Why would you protect someone like her?"

"Because she's my sister…"

"so?"

"I owe it to her…"

"why?"

"Because I blame myself for the death of her parents."

"_her _parents?"

"I was adopted… from when I was a baby girl. When the two of us were growing up, my parents seemed to have given me more attention and one day, Chiziru and her mother were arguing on the phone about it because her mother wasn't able to make it to Chiziru's birthday party. That fight led to her mom running a red light and her instant death by getting hit by a truck. Chiziru's hated me even more after that...It all started when I joined the military but I understand how she feels..."

"You were adopted, it was the least the parents could do to have you live a normal life."

"A normal life…? What exactly is that?"

Hisoka gave a small amused smile.

"You're very easy to talk to… Anyway, I apologize for lying but please keep this a secret."

"Don't worry."

"Thank you Hisoka." A small smile formed on Rima's face and Hisoka felt a bit of warmth radiating throughout his body. He stood from his bed as quietly as he could and walked over to Rima. He took her blanket and covered her with it, the suddenness of it all shocked Rima. "I didn't even sense you…"

"Good night, Rima." Hisoka said while walking back to his bed.

"Good night… Hisoka."


	3. Our Little Secret

_I hate you! You took everything away from me! You took my mama, my papa and my life! Papa died trying to protect you in war and mama died because of you! I wish you died in battle instead of papa! Bring my papa back! Bring my mama back! I DON'T WANT YOU!_

GASP

"haa…haa…haa…" Rima suddenly woke up from her deep slumber due to the accusatory voice she repeatedly hears every night as she goes to bed. The voice terrified Rima and always woke her up in the middle of the night. She woke up with a cold sweat, a rapidly beating heart, and a clenched fist.

Throughout the night, Rima would whimper in her sleep and call out "papa!". As Rima's dreams of war and its casualties become more vivid, she started crying in her sleep. Hisoka, who was a very light sleeper, noticed the uneasiness Rima felt and walked over to her. Before Hisoka reached her bed, Rima woke up with a terrified scream. Her hands were covering her ears, her eyes were shut tight, and she rolled herself up into a ball with her forehead placed in her lap. She was sniffling and breathing heavily, when Hisoka stood beside her bed, he had an expression of pity on his face. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the terrorized girl and his hand started to move on his own. He gently put his hand on her head and the warmth Rima felt was enough to help her calm down.

_What… am I doing? _Hisoka thought as he continued to look at the helpless girl. "If… If you want to talk, I'm all ears."

Rima lifted her head and fixed her eyes upon the General, her tears continued to stream and her eyes shone brightly in the dark room. "I'm scared…"

Hisoka sat beside Rima on her bed and handed her a tissue, "Go on."

Rima took the tissue and wiped away her tears, she clenched the tissue in her fist and placed her forehead in her lap once again. "Please don't tell the others…"

"It'll be our secret" Hisoka said with gentle eyes fixed upon the red headed beauty.

"As I explained earlier, my father was in the military, I joined when I was 18. I was assigned to my father's squad; he was General of our team and one of the best. However, when we were about to raid the enemy base, one of our squad mates turned on us and he had a bomb strapped to his body. My father went ahead to scope out the area and I was left behind with the man. Before my father returned, the man revealed the bomb and threatened to kill the both of us and ordered the Commander General to surrender or all of Mill Village will be wiped out. The Commander General gave orders to my father to take care of the bomb and when my father returned he realized that his mission was to kill his best friend. My father talked through to his friend and stalled him to allow me to escape, I refused to go but the other squad members knew what my father's intentions were and they grabbed me and ran for it. The last thing I remember hearing and seeing was my father getting blown up and blood splattering everywhere… I see that in my dreams from time to time, the catastrophes of war have haunted my dreams and have kept me up for years. They're so vivid and I'm just so scared to go through something like that again. But… that was just the beginning, when I came home… my little sister hated me, she blamed me for our father's death and she refused to have anything to do with me. After that, mother started to neglect Chiziru and paid more attention to me. Chiziru is 6 years younger than me and not soon after she lost her father, she lost her mother too. I was returning home for the holidays and it was also Chiziru's birthday the day I came home… her school threw her a birthday party and parents were expected to come, when Chiziru called mama to come over, she said she couldn't because she had to pick me up, Chiziru got furious and started yelling at mama about how it was unfair that her own parents didn't care for their biological daughter and that they cared for someone else's kid more. That fight led to my mom getting hit by a truck… and later when I confronted Chiziru she said, '_I hate you! You took everything away from me! You took my mama, my papa and my life! Papa died trying to protect you in war and mama died because of you! I wish you died in battle instead of papa! Bring my papa back! Bring my mama back! I DON'T WANT YOU!' _I can still hear her voice in my dreams as well… So I returned to the force for 4 more years and now here I am… Blind, helpless, and hated."

The room was silent for a moment and Hisoka gave Rima a moment to calm down. Hisoka was a very good listener, he did not say a word and he did not move a muscle. He continued to sit beside her, stayed quiet and listened.

"I'm curious…" Hisoka began breaking the silence. "if your loss of eyesight is due to the abuse you've been through then does that mean it's impossible to get it back when we find that book?"

"No… there is a page in the book that allows a person to heal any ailment, the cost being Nen. I care less about returning my eyesight and more about returning the balance of Nen."

"You sure know a lot about this book…"

"You never miss anything do you? Like I said before, that book is passed down through the generations of my family, and by my family I mean my biological one. From what I've been able to uncover, my family was into magic and spells, they mastered their Nen and wanted to use it in a different way. My ancestors made a book of spells with all the spells they could think of and the cost of using a spell would be Nen, the more risky the spell the more Nen you need. After generations, more and more spells were added. I was only able to have a quick glance at the book before Chiziru stole it. Her Nen allows her to hide her presence and she can open portals in different places. She was able to steal the book and now it's in her possession. We must stop her before it's too late."

"And what if, say, something happened to the book? If it wasn't with her and we couldn't find it, how're we supposed to get the Nen and your eyesight back?"

"Then we would have to kill her or at least extract all the Nen from her body. If we can do that then we can worry about the rest later."

"She's strong, with all that Nen she's absorbed, I'm surprised it hasn't completely consumed her."

"Ne, Hisoka-San…"

"Just Hisoka is fine."

"Right, Hisoka…"

"Yes?"

"Uhh… Nevemind. It's nothing. Thank you for listening to my story. I'm sorry to keep you up with my problems. You're a very good listener, thank you again. You should head back to be-" Before Rima was able to finish her sentence, Hisoka took a hold of Rima's head and motioned her head to rest on Hisoka's shoulder. "eh? Uno, Hisoka… Nande?"

"You're going to have nightmares if you go back to bed right? Having someone by your side helps reduce your nightmares right? If that's how I can help then something as simple as this is no problem."

"You really don't have to…"

"Good Night, Rima. Sweet dreams." Hisoka said with a gentle tone.

"Good night, Hisoka… thank you…" Rima slowly closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

The plane was getting ready to land and the passengers had to return to their seats and fasten their seat belts. Gon, Kurapika, Illumi, and Killua were already awake and had their morning meal. As they were headed to their seats Killua said he was gonna get Hisoka and Rima, when his real objective was to see if Hisoka has done anything to Rima. Killua knocked on the door and he heard no answer, he slowly opened the door and what he saw made him blush and he quickly closed the door. When Killua reopened the door he saw Rima and Hisoka lying in the same bed together, almost as if they were cuddling, Killua was unhappy at the scene before him and when Hisoka sensed the anger from Killua, he woke up.

Hisoka slowly opened his amber eyes and fixed his eyes on Killua, he gave a smirk and Killua had an expression as if he wanted to kill Hisoka.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Hisoka?!" Killua whispered as loudly as he could while trying to not wake up Rima. Hisoka gently placed Rima's head on her pillow and stood from her bed, he quietly walked over to Killua and put his hand on his shoulder. "Don't get your panties in a bunch, I didn't do anything. She had a nightmare, she needed someone to talk to."

"And that someone was you?" Killua asked in a tone of utter disbelief.

"I would never harm someone like her. Now, why did you enter our room without any courtesy?"

"I knocked, you both were asleep. The pilot said we were landing soon, we have to get back to our seats and prepare for landing. You go on ahead Hisoka. I'll take care of Rima"

"Whatever you say, little assassin~" With that Hisoka left the room and headed towards the kitchen. In the kitchen was Illumi sitting at the table, munching on a juicy green apple.

"ah, Hisoka. How was your roommate?"

"She's one interesting person, I'll tell you that." Hisoka said with amusement while taking the seat across from Illumi.

"I see…"

"How was your talk with the little assassin last night?"

"It seems you were right, he has some sort of feelings for her. His attitude changed when he was talking to me last night, she clearly impacted him in some way. So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Did she impact you in any way?"

"Of course not."

"Good, we can't have you turning into a hopeless romantic either."

"Haha, don't worry. Now let's head to our seats." As Hisoka and Illumi left the kitchen they saw Gon and Kurapika already buckled up in their seats. Hisoka and Illumi took their seats and buckled up as well, Killua and Rima were still not out in the seating area yet.

"Oi, Hisoka, where's Rima?" Gon asked looking in Hisoka's direction.

"The little assassin's bringing her out." Hisoka said with no interest in his voice.

Just a few moments after, Killua and Rima emerged from the kitchen and took their seats and buckled up.

"ah, Rima! Ohayo!" Gon greeted with his usual big grin.

"Ohayo, Gon. Kurapika as well" Rima said with a smile.

"How did you sleep" Kurapika asked.

"I slept fine, thank you for asking."

Killua looked at Rima with concerned eyes and he couldn't help but look at her with pitiful eyes.

"Attention everyone, I advise you hold onto something tight, our landing area isn't smooth." The pilot announced.

Gon held onto the armrests, while Kurapika held onto the handle above his head. Killua held onto Rima and they both gripped the arm rests. Hisoka and Illumi simply sat in their seats as if everything was normal. As the plane was landing, the jet was shaking vigorously and as the plane stopped, the wheels made a very loud screeching sound. When the plane finally landed, everyone loosened their grip and looked outside the window. Silence fell on the jet, it seems the puppets have spread farther then they have thought, Meteor Village has already been destroyed by the catastrophes of war.

As the group of six stepped off the plane, the smell of war greeted them as they explored Meteor Village.

"How horrible…" Rima said while touching the ground, the grass has all died and only dirt was there. "The puppets have already spread so fast. So what happened to Ko Village?"

"We can safely assume that Ko Village has already been taken over by the puppets, they're targeting other villages in search of Nen." Kurapika explained.

"So why exactly are we here?" Gon asked.

"I've received word from the leading General that there was the presence of Nen here but I haven't felt anything." Kurapika explained.

"The puppets must have already extracted the Nen." Killua said.

"Then where are we supposed to go now?" Gon asked.

"We should head further into the village, we might find a town that survived or even a person that survived." Kurapika suggested.

As the group of six headed for a nearby town, they felt a presence that made them all get into the defensive. They looked at their surroundings but there was no one there.

"That wasn't the presence of Nen or a puppet, what the hell was that?" Killua said with a serious tone.

"Illumi…" Hisoka whispered to his partner.

"They're getting stronger…" Illumi whispered back to Hisoka.

As a moment of silence was shared between the team, a threatening presence appeared before them. Everyone backed away from the shadow and they were all prepared to fight.

The shadow that appeared before them was one of Chiziru's puppets but this one was different among the other they've encountered. The puppet had a white mask on and wore all black clothes. When the puppet released its Nen, it was stronger than the puppets with the Black Masks. Hisoka and Illumi threw their weapons at the puppet but the puppet was able to easily dodge.

"Gon, protect Rima!" Killua ordered as he prepared to attack the puppet. Killua's ability to change his Nen into electricity was able to mobilize the puppet for only a split second, the puppet then started to absorb Killua's Nen and it started to split itself in two.

As Gon made his way to Rima, the other puppet appeared in front of Gon and he had no other choice but to fight. Kurapika was able to run by Rima's side and get her to safety but then another puppet appeared from the sky concentrating all its weight into its feet. Kurapika threw Rima in the opposite direction of him and the puppet landed with a 'BOOM'.

"Don't use Nen based attacks! They're able to absorb it without needing to touch us!" Kurapika yelled to his comrades as he was facing his opponent. "Draw your guns!"

Gon, Kurapika, Killua, Illumi, and Hisoka all pulled out their guns and shot their targets. What they didn't realize though was that Rima was left to defend for herself. As Rima regained her footing, she felt an even more threatening presence in front of her, she immediately pulled out her gun. The mysterious caped man held out his hand to reach for Rima's shoulder but then a playing card pierced his shoulder.

"Rima! Shoot!" Killua yelled while he was preoccupied with his puppet.

Rima cocked her gun but she felt a sharp pain in her head, the pain was unbearable and she wasn't able to shoot her gun. The gun fell out of her hand and the mysterious man removed the card from his shoulder, he then approached Rima. Right when he was about to touch Rima's shoulder, 3 bullets were shot through his chest. The mysterious man then disappeared from sight.

The bullets were fired from Hisoka's gun and everyone was finally able to take down their puppets. They all rushed to the aid of Rima and Hisoka noticed how her hand was shaking uncontrollably.

"Rima, are you okay?" Killua asked in a worried tone. He had the look of guilt on his face and held her hand to help her regain her footing.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what happened… My head started hurting… It hurt so bad…" Rima clenched her fists and they were both shaking uncontrollably. _Please… Not now…_

"We need to get to the village quickly; we don't have time to drag our feet." Killua explained while kneeling down. "Rima, get on my back, I'll carry you. We're going to have to use our enhanced speed to find the town, we can't afford to take the slow route."

Rima nodded her head and got on Killua's back. "Let's go guys!" The 5 Generals speeded off to the closest town they could find.

* * *

As the 6 of them reached the nearest town of 'Westborough' the town was a complete mess. Houses were destroyed, there were pieces of wood and brick scattered in the streets, the street lamps were scattered in the street and there was not a single sound heard in the town.

"There doesn't seem to be any signs of life here…" Gon said while looking through the houses.

"No, there is. I sense someone's presence, it's faint but it's there." Illumi explained.

CREAK

An old woman emerged from the door of a shattered home and she hid from the Generals. "Who are you people…?" the old woman asked with a terrified voice.

"We are the Generals of Cloud Village, we are here to protect you." Kurapika explained to the old woman.

"Well… it looks like you were a little too late to protect us" the old woman replied.

"Are there any other survivors?" Kurapika asked with a guilty tone.

"No, it is just me. The puppets have killed everyone already, they wreaked havoc and left for the next town over." The old woman spotted Rima and looked at her with narrow eyes, "Bring that girl over here."

"eh?" was Rima's reply.

"I'm a doctor, you need to be tended to." The old woman explained. "Bring her over here. It'll be quick." Killua nodded to the old woman and did as he was told, Gon, Kurapika, Illumi, and Hisoka stayed outside of the house.

When Killua entered the house, he lied Rima down on the hospital bed. The old woman ordered Killua to leave the room so she can start treatment. Killua did as he was told and only Rima and the doctor were left in the house.

The old woman observed Rima and took her vitals, "you… Your condition…"

"I already know. This checkup is pointless, I already know of my condition."

"Do your friends know?"

"Of course not."

"If you push yourself too hard, your condition will get worse."

"I know all this but I don't care. I have to stop this, this war. The only way I can do that is to continue to fight alongside these guys. Thank you for your concern ma'am but I've already made up my mind on how things are going to play out."

"What will the silver haired boy say when he finds out?"

"Nothing because he and the others won't find out… not until the very end…"

"Miss…"

"Ma'am… thank you but I'll be fine." Rima said while giving the old woman a gentle smile.

"At least take this" the old woman searched through her medicine cabinet and gave Rima two antibiotic pills and she gave her a glass of water.

Rima took the pills and popped them into her mouth and took a big drink of water from the glass. "Thank you."

Rima left the old woman's house and met up with the Generals, "Everything alright Rima?" Gon asked.

"Yes, everything's fine. Shall we get going then?"

"But where do we go now? How are we even supposed to find your sister like this?" Gon asked with a very disappointed face.

"You're right… I have no idea… I'm at a complete loss…"

"Well don't beat yourself up too hard" Kurapika said, "We'll just head back to the Jet and go over any leads the other squads have come up with."

"I'm sorry you guys…" Rima said with disappointment in her voice.

. . .

Back at the jet, Kurapika went to the control room to go over any leads that Netero or any of the other squads could have come up with. Gon and Killua sat in the seating area watching the news on how the puppets continue to spread themselves to further lands. Illumi went to his room and closed the door, no one knew what he did in there. As for Hisoka, he took a seat in the kitchen and stated to build a card tower.

Rima sat with Gon and Killua and was saddened when she was listening to the news. She made her way to the kitchen and went to grab a glass of water, she was unaware of Hisoka's presence. As Rima took a sip out of the cup, it suddenly fell and crashed on the floor, the glass shattered into many pieces and her hands were beginning to shake again. As Rima was about to pick up the broken shards of glass she felt an arm grab her wrist.

"are you an idiot? You can't see, what if you seriously injure you fingers?" It was Hisoka, his card tower was knocked over and he was kneeling next to Rima. Then Hisoka suddenly felt a drop of water on his hand, he looked at Rima and she was crying.

"It's all my fault… all my fault this war started…" Rima's hands were shaking and she brought her hands to cover her ears. She was breathing heavily and she closed her eyes tightly. "Make… it… stop!"

Hisoka looked at her with narrow eyes, _the voices are haunting her even when she's awake…?_

Hisoka grasped Rima and hugged her, _what exactly am I doing?_ Rima continued to shake and cry in Hisoka's arms. "It's all my fault…" was what Rima kept on repeating while Hisoka tried to comfort her.

Hisoka tightened his hug and looked at the girl with a serious face. _Her life has been a living hell… We need to find the book soon…_


	4. Rima's Secret?

**[[ Whoo! Two chapters in one day? I'm on fire! I just want to thank those who reviewed so far for their reviews, I appreciate such kind words and I'm glad you enjoy the story so far! I hope you enjoy this chapter my loves! Please R&R! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated ~ ! ]]**

* * *

The next day no word has been received on the whereabouts of Chiziru. Kurapika returned to the control room once again to try and contact Netero. Gon was in the kitchen with Illumi watching Hisoka build his card tower. Rima overslept due to her lack of sleep last night and when she finally woke up at 11o'clock, she made her way to the seating area where Killua was watching the news.

"ah, ohayo Rima!" Killua greeted as he saw his red headed companion.

"Ohayo, Killua." Rima said with a gentle smile. As Rima walked over to Killua, her walking was unstable, her head was pounding and she was getting dizzy. As she took a couple steps forward, she fell to the floor.

"Rima!" Killua yelled in concern as he quickly ran to her side. "Oi, Rima! Are you okay?" Killua tried to help Rima up but she did not look so well. He put his hand on her forehead and it was burning. "Rima… you're burning up, you've caught a fever. You need to take better care of your body." Killua picked Rima up princess style and carried her to one of the passenger seats. The chair had a recliner and he helped Rima become more comfortable. "You stay here, I'll go make you some soup" Killua said while draping a blanket over her.

As Killua walked away, Rima grabbed his wrist, "I'm sorry Killua… I don't mean to cause any trouble…"

"It's not your fault Rima besides we don't have a lead right now so it's fine. Now I'll be right back." Killua said with a smile as he walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Killua, what's wrong?" Gon asked when he saw Killua enter the kitchen.

"Ahh, Rima has a fever." Hearing such words made Hisoka hit the last card on his card tower causing it to drop on the table. Illumi looked at Hisoka with a questionable face.

"aww, you were almost there too Hisoka" Gon said with disappointment.

Killua looked though the cabinets and saw a can of chicken noodle soup. He looked for the sauce pan and heated the soup up.

"I wanna help too!" Gon said as he sprung from the kitchen table. He looked through the cabinet and found Chamomile Tea, "Tea is good for sick people right, Killua?"

Killua had a smile on his face and nodded yes. Gon put water in the teapot and waited for it to boil. As Gon prepared the tea and Killua finished heating up the soup, they placed it on a tray to bring to Rima. As Gon and Killua left the room, Illumi took a seat in front of Hisoka.

"You liar." Illumi said with a straight face.

"What're you talking about?" Hisoka asked while collecting his scrambled cards.

"She did impact you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"When Kil said she was sick I felt it, the hesitation in your body just before your card tower fell."

"There was no hesitation."

"You're a horrible liar. I don't care much if she's affected you. All I really care about is that if you hurt Kil in any way…" Illumi's attitude turned cold, "I will kill you."

Hisoka returned his cold attitude with a smirk, "Don't worry. I won't do anything."

. . .

Back in the seating area, Gon and Killua were sitting with Rima watching the news. Rima sat in the chair and ate the soup that Killua made for her. Killua offered to help feed her but she said that she didn't want to trouble Killua with such a trivial thing.

On the news it talked about Blossom Village and how they were bracing themselves for the fast spreading war. The news reporter said that Blossom Village has closed its ties to the world and there is no possible way for anyone to get in our out of the village. The village is in a complete lockdown.

Meanwhile, in the control room, Kurapika was going over the data he received from his squad members. The control room had a big computer screen which allowed Kurapika to go over many pieces of information at once. Then suddenly, a map popped up on his screen and there was a yellow dot blinking. The location was in Valkyrie Village, Kurapika clicked on the dot and a video clip appeared. Kurapika looked at the video clip in shock. The video clip showed a black masked puppet in all black clothing extracting Nen from a man in his late 3Os. The villagers were in chaos in the background and then the video feed cut out. Kurapika immediately ran to the Pilot Room and ordered the pilot to fly to Valkyrie Village, the pilot understood and prepared for flight.

"Attention passengers, we will be heading towards our new destination, if everyone could please head towards the seating area and buckle up." The intercom announced.

Hisoka and Illumi emerged from the kitchen and headed toward their seats, Hisoka looked at Rima for a second and then looked away. Hisoka and Illumi buckled up and Gon did as well. Killua took the tray away from Rima and helped her buckle up.

"Thank you Killua… for taking care of me." Rima said with a weakened voice.

"Don't mention it." Killua replied with a smile, "You should get some rest while we head to our next destination, every second counts. I'll wake you when we get there."

"I'll take you up on that offer, thank you very much Killua."

Killua tucked Rima in and sat in the seat beside her, Killua also buckled himself up but then he noticed that Kurapika was not in the seating area yet.

"Oi, where's Kurapika?"

"I'm here!" Kurapika said as he walked to his seat and buckled up.

"Are you the reason why we're strapped in these seats again?" Illumi asked.

"I've received news that new puppets have been spotted in Valkyrie Village, we might find a clue as to where Chiziru is. " Kurapika explained.

"I see, and if we find Chiziru, we find the book!" Gon explained in his usual happy voice.

Kurapika smiled at Gon, "that's right" Kurapika then looked over at Rima who was trying to fall asleep. "Rima, is everything all right?"

"She got a fever" Killua explained, "I told her to rest for a little before we reach Valkyrie."

"Ah, then I apologize for being rude. We'll be in Valkyrie in about an hour."

* * *

As the plane landed in Valkyrie Village, Killua woke Rima up from her sleep. "Rima, Rima~ We've landed, it's time to wake up."

"Ah, thank you Killua. Sorry to impose on you like this."

"It's fine, do you feel a little bit better at least?"

"Yes, just a little, thank you."

"No problem, now come on, everyone's already got off the plane." Killua unbuckled Rima from her seat and removed the blanket. He grabbed Rima's hand and led her off the plane to meet with the other Generals. Luckily for Valkyrie Village, it has yet to fall in between the catastrophes of war.

"AHHHHHH!" A loud scream was heard further in town and that caught the attention of the group. They ran to the source of the scream and they saw a black masked puppet extracting the Nen from a young woman. Hisoka grabbed his cards and threw it at the puppet, killing it immediately.

"I thought Nen attacks didn't work" Rima asked.

"Against the black masked ones it does, you remembered its aura didn't you? It's not the same as the other puppet we encountered back at Meteor Village was it?" Hisoka explained.

"You're right. The presence I felt between the puppet now and earlier was different, this one seemed weaker."

"That's because they are" Kurapika explained. "The ones with black masks can be attacked with Nen moves or regular bullets, they extract Nen by touching their target. As for the white masked ones, all we know is that it'll just absorb our Nen attacks so we have to use our bullets."

"I see… Well we were able to save the woman, how is her condition?"

Kurapika walked over to the unconscious woman, and took her pulse. "She's fine, she's unconscious but as for her Nen, it looks like it's gone for good."

"So we weren't able to save her in time." Rima said with a sad expression.

"At least she's still alive, that's worth something isn't it Rima?" Killua said while trying to cheer Rima up.

"I guess you're right…"

_Rima…_

"eh?" Rima reacted.

"What's wrong?" Gon asked.

"You guys didn't hear that…?"

"Hear what?" Killua asked.

_Rima…_

"There it is again…"

_Rima…_

"Over there!" Rima ran in the direction of the voice she was hearing.

"Oi, Rima!" Killua yelled as he ran after her.

"Rima!" Gon yelled as he followed Killua. Kurapika, Illumi, and Hisoka followed shortly after.

_Rima…_

Rima continued to run towards the voice, _I know that voice… Chiziru?_

All of a sudden the voice stopped and Rima had no idea where she was, she then felt a presence near her. Not being able to escape in time, a puppet took a hold of Rima, the puppet was wearing a red mask and its aura was stronger than the other two. Killua managed to catch up to Rima and the other Generals caught up soon after. They were all shocked at the sight before them.

"Rima!" Killua yelled with a worried face. "Dammit, what're we going to do?!"

The puppet tightened its grip on Rima's neck and prepared to extract her Nen, Hisoka and Illumi threw their cards and needles at the puppet while Gon and Kurapika fired bullets at the puppet, both attacks were futile against the puppet.

"Dammit" Killua said while gritting his teeth, he charged at the puppet with his lightening and accidentally ended up shocking Rima with it.

"Ahh!" Rima yelped in pain as the electricity spread throughout her body.

"Rima!" Killua clenched his fist and dispelled his electricity.

The 5 Generals were completely helpless against the newly masked puppet.

"Oi, Kurapika, how do we defeat that thing?!" Killua asked in a frantic tone.

Kurapika tried to stay calm and analyze the situation in front of him but no ideas sparked in his mind.

As the puppet was beginning to extract Rima's Nen, she was able to conjure up her fan and cloak herself in her fiery vortex, thus burning the puppet and having it release its grip on her.

Gon charged at the puppet and used his Ja-Janken to defeat the puppet, the Nen stolen from Rima returned to her body.

Rima coughed into her glove and was able to smell the scent of blood, she had a worried look on her face and clenched her fist when she felt Killua's presence run beside her.

"Rima, are you okay? I'm so sorry about earlier, I didn't think that attack would hurt you too!"

"It's okay Killua; I know you meant no harm. I just can't believe I got myself captured like that so easily."

"Please don't run off like that again" Killua asked with a gentle tone.

"I'm sorry."

"Well well well, what a lovely scene. Looks like you just have it all don't you big sister?" The sudden voice caused the Generals to put their guards up but they did not see the source of the voice anywhere.

"Chiziru…"

Suddenly on the ground a portal opened and a young girl with dark blue hair and green eyes appeared from the portal. She wore a red robe with a hood and she was hovering in the air.

"You're just loved by everyone aren't you, Nee-Chan?" Chiziru said in a disgusted voice. "This is why I can't stand you."

"Chiziru" Rima regained her footing and faced in the direction of Chiziru's voice, "Chiziru, you have to stop this, this war isn't worth it! You think bringing back mother from the dead is a good choice? You're going to ruin her life! Return the Nen you stole Chiziru and hand that book back over to the Tatsuyo family!"

"The book? HAH, I burned the book, good luck with that. And as for the Nen, you'll have to kill me for it and we both know what'll happen if you do that, don't you?"

"What is she talking about Rima?" Kurapika asked.

"You mean, you didn't tell them? Oh shame on you, maybe I should tell them for you dearest sister, haha. If you guys must know, the precious little girl you see there is actually hiding something very important from you. Actually, if you decide to kill me, your precious Rima will-"

SWISH

Rima threw her fans at Chiziru entrapping her in a vortex of fire, due to Chiziru's Nen ability she was able to escape the fire.

"Oh Nee-Chan such a harsh attitude… That's why you should've died instead of papa. Catch me if you can Rima, before it's too late." Chiziru looked at Rima's bloodied glove. "HAHAHAHA!" Rima threw her fans at Chiziru again but Chiziru managed to escape unharmed.

"Darn… We missed our chance" Rima said while catching her fans.

"What was she talking about Rima? What happens if we kill her?" Killua persisted.

Rima faced away from Killua and did not say a word.

"Rima…"

"I'm sorry Killua, not today. We have to figure out a new plan. Now that the book is gone our only choice left is to kill her…"

"And now that the book is gone, we have no way of getting your eyesight back…" Killua said.

"I cared less about that. We have to catch her before it's too late."

"Before it's too late? Too late for what?"

"Before the balance of Nen is destroyed Kil." Illumi interrupted. "If the balance of Nen is destroyed, the world will be thrown into chaos. We must find that girl immediately and restore the Nen."

"Guess it's back to the jet to look for new leads." Kurapika said with a sigh.

. . .

Once everyone returned to the jet, Kurapika returned to the control room for the night and Illumi was also there to keep him company.

Gon and Killua shared a room for the night and Rima and Hisoka also went to bed. In Rima and Hisoka's room, Rima was lying down facing toward the wall, which was the first time she's ever done that when rooming with Hisoka. Hisoka looked at Rima from his bed and had an amused smile on his face.

"What's you secret, Princess?"

"I have no secret and I'm no princess…"

"haha, relax. I come up with nicknames for people, yours just happens to be 'princess'. But like I said before, I know when people are lying, what's your secret?"

Rima gave a sigh. "Not today, if you don't mind Hisoka…"

Hisoka looked at Rima with a concerned face. "as you wish, Princess. Then, I wish you a good night and sweet dreams."

"Good night Hisoka. Sweet dreams…"


	5. The Truth?

**[[ Hello readers! Been a while, I sincerely apologize! Internet's been down, been super busy with school and writer's block has hit me again! D: I'm sorry this chapter isn't that long and it may not be the greatest but please bear with me! I hope you enjoy this a little at least. Please R&R! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated~! ]]**

* * *

"Onee-Chan! Onee-Chan!" A young girl's voice called out as she was giggling. A small brown haired girl was chasing her red headed sister through a field of flowers. The girls were six years apart, the younger sister looked about 1O years old and the older sister was 16. As the two girls laughed and played, a radiating warmth was shared between the two. Just by looking at the two, you could tell that the love and care they had for each other was real but that all changed when the red haired sister suddenly fainted.

"Onee-Chan! Onee-Chan! What's wrong?! Onee-Chan?!" The younger sister's name was Chiziru and she panicked at the sight of her sister lying unconscious on the ground. As Chiziru ran home to tell her mother, they immediately called for an ambulance and met at "Blossom Field." Chiziru, along with her mother, rode in the back of the ambulance with the EMTs and the lifeless red headed girl.

"She's losing oxygen…" The EMT announced as he took an oxygen mask and tried to keep her stable. "What's her name?" The EMT looked at Chiziru's mother whose face was full of worry.

"R-Rima… is she going to be okay?!" Chiziru's mother was a very beautiful women, she had long tan hair, pale flawless skin, and beautiful silver eyes. With the worried expression she had on her face, her eyes sparkled from the tears that were falling from her eyes.

During the ambulance ride to the hospital, Chiziru's mother, Meiko, could not stop praying for Rima's safety. Chiziru was doing the same, she prayed for the safety of her sister and she continued to cry even when they reached the hospital. As the EMTs rushed Rima to the emergency room, Chiziru and Meiko were told to wait in the waiting room.

After about 4 hours, a nurse excited the emergency room with news to bear. The news took a toll on Meiko, she broke down in shock and disbelief, bursting in tears. Chiziru was not affected in the same way, in fact Chiziru did not understand the situation at hand.

"I apologize to be the bearer of such horrible news…" The nurse said with a voice of sincerity. "The cancer has developed severely; it will lead to the destruction of her internal organs and will eventually attack her brain. She will lose the ability to see, feel, walk, breathe…. And live… Unfortunately there is no known cure as of yet. There are treatments however, if you're willing to go through with the treatments we can start right away. The doctor said that she will only have a few years left to live, 4 at the most. Her condition is going to get worse, she will feel light headed and she may faint a lot more, she will be prone to more fevers, the internal bleeding will cause her to cough up a lot blood, she will lose her eyesight, her airways will be tighter making it harder for her to breathe… It's going to be a tough life for her. I really recommend treatment Mrs. Gouya."

Meiko didn't say anything for a while, she continued to sit on the floor and cry. The nurse gave her some time to think over the treatment option but in the end Meiko refused. Meiko said she wanted to give Rima a life full of happiness and didn't want her to live in a hospital for the rest of her life.

After a couple of months, Meiko ran into a man that said he can help Rima live longer than the doctors have suggested. Hearing such a thing caused Meiko to take the man to see Rima and when he spotted both Rima and Chiziru he mentioned that they have a superior power bottled up inside of them. The man was able to see the Nen radiating off each of their bodies and he told Meiko that he will train the two girls in Nen which will lead to saving Rima's life.

The man's name was Pulse and he was in his late 3Os. He was a very strong and buff man but his face was of a kind gentleman. His hunch was right about the two girls and they were able to master Nen within a month of training. Chiziru was revealed to be a specialist and Rima was a conjuror. Pulse said when specialist's and conjuror's powers combine, they will be able to create a great weapon and the weapon he talked about was a Nen Chain. The Nen Chain allowed the two girls to link the source of their Nen together and it allowed Rima's illness to be slowed down. As long as the Nen Chain is still intact, Rima would live a healthy life. The Nen Chain also serves as a key to destroying both of their Nen. Pulse explained that if a condition is placed when creating a weapon it will wield a great power, therefore, the riskier the conditioner, the greater the power. The condition in keeping Rima alive was the Nen of both the girls. Once that Nen Chain is destroyed, their Nen will disappear and Rima will die.

"Now listen girls, as long as you both have faith and love for each other, the Nen Chain will grow stronger and Rima will be able to live alongside you, Chiziru. Don't break the condition that was placed upon the chain, once the condition breaks you will lose everything. The only way to destroy that Nen chain is if one of you loses your Nen. That means you either have to have your Nen extracted from you or you are dead. Don't let either happen alright? I trust you girls to go far. I must get going now, it was a pleasure to train you two." Pulse tussled each of the girl's hair with his large gentle hands and gave them both goodbye hugs. As he hugged Rima he whispered in her ear, "Even if you have the chance to live a longer life, live each day as your last. No one knows what happens in the future. Good luck kid." Pulse said his last goodbyes to the Gouya family and made his leave.

"Nee-Chan?"

"What's wrong Chiziru?"

Chiziru stuck out her pinkie finger motioning Rima to make a pinkie promise with her. Rima looked at Chiziru's extended pinkie with shock.

"I promise to keep you alive" Chiziru said with a big smile. That smile resonated with Rima's heart and she returned Chiziru's smile with a gentle smile of her own. She took ahold of Chiziru's pinkie with her own and said, "I promise to stay alive." ...

_I hate you! You took everything away from me! You took my mama, my papa and my life! Papa died trying to protect you in war and mama died because of you! I wish you died in battle instead of papa! Bring my papa back! Bring my mama back! I DON"T WANT YOU!_

. . .

Rima woke up from her sleep with a cold sweat, the accusatory voice disturbed her deep slumber. She clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes seeing nothing but darkness. In fact, it was already morning, it was 8:3O and everyone on the jet was already awake. Hisoka was still in his bed and he just looked at Rima from afar. He did not say a word, he did not make one move, he simply lied there and stared at the helpless girl. His bright amber eyes glistened as he looked at the pitiful girl.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Come in" Rima said with a very soft and quiet voice.

The person that entered the room was Killua, "ahh, Rima you're awake, good morning."

"Good morning Killua, we should try to be quiet, I believe Hisoka is still sleeping."

"No, I'm awake" Hisoka said as he was getting up from his bed. Hisoka walked past Killua and exited the room. Killua looked at Hisoka with a weird look and felt like something was wrong. "Is everything alright?"

"I believe so" was Rima's only reply.

"Well, how's your fever? Is it getting better at least?" Killua walked towards Rima's bed and tried to touch her forehead but she moved her head away. The sudden isolation was a shock to Killua, "Rima…"

"I'm fine Killua, you don't need to worry about me. Instead we should be focusing on finding Chiziru. Now that we know she's burned the book we have to find a way to kill her."

"Whoa, wait. You've already decided that we're going to kill her? She said something will happen to you if we do, we can't kill her. We won't."

"There's no point in arguing about this. She's absorbed a ton of Nen, no one knows how strong she is. In our encounter with her, no one was able to sense how powerful her Nen was. She's dangerous, we need to kill her. We need to stop her. I can't let her live like thi-" Unable to finish her sentence, Killua gave her a hug. Rima was surprised at such a situation.

"You don't need to blame yourself. I understand she's your sister and you feel like you're responsible but it's really not your fault. We'll find her and we'll save her… and you."

_I can never be saved…_ Rima turned her head away from Killua and closed her eyes. _I'm not worth saving… _

* * *

With no new leads the Generals have been on the jet for two days without anything to do. Gon and Killua have been constantly watching the news and Hisoka built his card towers in the kitchen with Illumi silently watching him. Kurapika has been shut in the control room doing everything he can to look for even the tiniest lead he can find.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Who is it?" Kurapika said while continuing to look at the computer screen.

Entering the room was Rima, she was carrying a tray of tea. "It's Rima, I brought some tea for you. You've been stuck in this room for a while, why not take a break?"

"I suppose, we haven't had any leads in a while…" Kurapika closed the files that were on his computer screen and Rima poured him a cup of tea. When Rima handed Kurapika his tea, she heard a beeping sound that came from a tab that's blinking on the monitor screen.

"Ne, Kurapika… What is that sound?"

"Ahh, It's a map." Kurapika clicked on the tab and a map popped up with many different colored blinking dots. "This map tells me where the puppet outbreaks have already spread and which types of puppets reside in those areas."

"Is there a reason as to why it made a beeping sound? Maybe a lead?"

"No, just new areas have been inflicted with lower level puppets and the other Generals and their squads are taking care of it. But wait… that's odd. There's an area on the map that's surrounded by puppets but there are none inside…" Kurapika tried to click on the area but nothing came up. "That's weird, there's no surveillance there?"

"Could it be… Blossom Village?"

"Do you have an idea?"

"Have you been watching the news recently? Blossom Village has closed its ties to the world, no one can get in or out and if there's no surveillance or anything…"

"Then no one knows what exactly is going on in the village."

"Exactly. Chiziru may be hiding there since she has the ability to enter and exit places of her own free will. The only problem is… how do _we _get in?"

"Good point… We can just use our titles… Us being Generals, we have the clearance to enter any village with any means, showing our badges allow us entrance. It'll be no problem. I'll go tell the pilot then, I hope we catch Chiziru soon." Kurapika gave a gentle smile to Rima and left to the Pilot's Headquarters.

"I hope so too Kurapika, before it's too late…"

COUGH COUGH

Rima's cough has been getting worse and the warmth she felt on her hand was blood, she was able to tell just by the smell of it. There was more blood on it than the first time she coughed blood into her hand but she did not want to worry the others so she went to the bathroom to wash it off. However, Rima didn't realize that the bathroom's layout was split like her bedroom. Two sinks, and two showers, it was a bathroom for a master bedroom. Hisoka, who just finished taking his shower walked out of the stall and saw Rima. He reached for the towel on the rack and placed it around his neck. As he slowly crept behind Rima, he saw the blood on her hands. He narrowed his eyes at the questionable sight.

"Cut yourself or something?" Hisoka suddenly asked causing Rima to jump in surprise. Rima quickly turned around and Hisoka grabbed her wrist and raised it so he could take a closer look. "I don't see a wound anywhere…" He smoothly rubbed his hand over the blood so it would rub on his skin.

"It was a nosebleed and why are you wet?" Rima asked while pulling her arm away.

"Hmm… I just got out of the shower, too bad you can't see, you would be pleased at what's in front of you."

"Don't tell me you…"

"Like I just said, I _just _got out of the shower~" Hisoka said with a small smirk.

Rima gave Hisoka a very small uncomfortable smile as she tried to leave the bathroom and she ended up bumping into Killua.

"Ouch…"

"Ah, Rima. Sorry about that, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just hit my forehead on your chin. For such young boys, you guys are tall"

"Haha, sorry about that. Were you just taking a shower? You should've told someone so they could lock the door for you."

"Ahh no I-"

"Well looky here, the little assassin with the princess, what a pleasant sight." Hisoka said walking out of the room with nothing but the towel around his neck. The sight before Killua made him blush and he immediately grabbed another towel and threw it at Hisoka.

"Oi Hisoka! Even if she can't see you should still have some respect!" Killua hugged Rima close to his chest and faced her away from Hisoka.

"It's okay, I'm fine Killua."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you though."

"Well I came to tell you that we're heading towards our next destination. We need to head to our seats and buckle up, you hear that Hisoka! Get your uniform back on and meet us in the seating area!"

"Hai~ Little assassin." Hisoka said with a smirk.

Killua guided Rima to the seating room and Hisoka was the only person left in the bathroom. He looked at the smudge of blood on his hand and he went to look for a small container of some sort. After rummaging through the drawers of the jet's bathroom Hisoka was able to find a small clear container that held medicine. He wiped the blood on his hand with a napkin and placed it in the container.

Before heading to the seating area, Hisoka went to the front of the plane near a window that was for the carrier owl. He attached the container to the owl with a message. "Get this to the doc, ne?" He asked while tying the message and container to the owl's neck. As the owl took off, Hisoka made his way to the seating area. He took his seat and buckled up, he looked at Rima and had an amused smile on his face. _Looks like the truth will be revealed soon, huh Princess?_


	6. True Feelings

**[[ Here's another chapter for you lovelies. Enjoy some fluffiness! I honestly half wing these chapters and half plan these out, hope they come out well though c: Please R&R! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated~! ]]**

* * *

"Hoo Hoo, Hoo Hoo" The carrier owl was a beautiful majestic white color with deep blue eyes that peered into your soul. The owl's name was Ophelia and she flew with such grace and speed. Her wings were spotted with small brown spots and she was a very kind owl. As she headed back to Cloud Village Military Headquarters, she flew towards the window located in the military hospital.

"Hey Ophelia" Leorio was the first to notice Ophelia since her window was located right next to his office. He noticed a ribbon tied around her neck and proceeded to walk toward her. "What have you got there, girl?" Leorio untied the ribbon on Ophelia's neck and looked at the container with a weird look. "What the heck is this?" Leorio proceeded to open up the letter attached to the container and it read:

_Hey Doc,_

_I need a favor, analyze this blood for me. Don't question why, just do it. When you get the results don't share it with anyone, just send the results back to me and destroy the sample afterwards. Please and thank you ~ _

"Judging by the suits at the end, it's from Hisoka but what's so special about this blood? Could it have something to do with Chiziru? I guess I'll just have to follow orders…" Leorio put the letter and the container in his jacket pocket and gave Ophelia a treat before leaving his office.

Leorio headed to the lab and put the red "Do Not Disturb" sign on. He was in the lab for at least 4 hours trying to analyze everything he can of the blood sample. Upon deeper examination of the blood, Leorio was completely speechless. "This… Impossible!" Leorio wrote down everything about his findings and burned the napkin so no one else would discover what Leorio has seen. He immediately ran to his office and tied his findings around Ophelia's neck with the blue ribbon she flew in with. "Ophelia, to the magician, quick!" Ophelia heeded his call and flew with great speed back to Hisoka.

* * *

It's been about 6 hours since Hisoka sent Ophelia back to headquarters and the Generals arrived in Blossom Village not too long ago. As the news stated, Blossom Village has closed its ties to the world. There is no known way to get in or out of the Village. When trying to enter Blossom Village, a person would have to go through the gate but the gate is closed and is guarded by at least 1O men, half of them knowing Nen.

"So, how exactly do we get in?" Illumi asked while looking at Kurapika.

"We'll use our badges, we're granted access anywhere. It should work."

"And what if it doesn't?" Illumi asked, still looking at Kurapika.

Kurapika gave a small gulp and tried to meet Illumi's gaze with a confident look, "It will."

As the group of six walked up to the gate, the guards took their stance. They all took their guns out and aimed straight at the Generals.

"Put your arm up guys, we have to show them that we're on their side" Kurapika ordered while he was slowly putting his arms up.

"Who are you? And what is your business here? Blossom Village is in complete lockdown, you shall not pass!" The guard with the brown hair announced. The guards were all wearing the same uniform: they wore navy blue pants and jackets with black combat boots and on their left chest, there's a cherry blossom that was embroidered onto their vests.

Kurapika slowly pointed to the badge that was on his hat, "We are the Generals of Cloud Village, and our badges are on our uniform as proof. We demand entrance into Blossom Village right away and this is not a request!" The Generals continued to keep their hands up and Kurapika looked at the guards with a very serious facial expression.

CLICK

The guard cocked his gun at Kurapika, the guard aimed for Kurapika's forehead. Kurapika tried to stand firm to show his other Generals his plan would work but he was very worried about the outcome of this situation, a sweat drop even managed to fall from his chin. Kurapika gave a small gulp and opened his mouth to begin to speak but he was then interrupted by Rima's voice.

"Please lower your guns. If we must leave, then we shall leave. Our goal is to stop violence but your goal is to protect Blossom Village, are you able to protect your dear village if you're standing out here?"

"Of course! We are preventing any intruders and dangers from entering!" The guard retaliated while moving his gun off of Kurapika to Rima.

"But what if they're already inside the village? When was the last time you actually checked on the village and its people? What if your beloved has already been destroyed… from the inside?"

The guard was speechless and so were the other guards at the gate. They had not thought of such a possibility. They believed that they were being heroes, that they are ensuring the safety of Blossom Village, if everything they believed went against them, they wouldn't be able to live with it.

"So…" Rima began breaking the guards' paranoia. "Why don't we open the gate and see how Blossom Village is really doing?"

The guard had a scornful look on his face and lowered his gun, he prepared to open the gate but then…

POW

The guard dropped dead due to a bullet to his head. Another guard shot at his fellow officer and turned to Rima. "Our commanding officers would never lie to us miss. We are saving our village, such thoughts are going against our village. We must ask you to leave and _this _is not a request.

CLICK CLICK CLICK

The other guards started to cock their guns at the group of six and the situation became even more serious than it was before.

"Nice going Princess." Hisoka said while the group of six backed up into each other with their hands behind their heads. The guards surrounded the Generals and prepared to fire. Rima closed her eyes and concentrated on her hearing, she tried to listen to anything behind the gate and she heard an older woman screaming "Mika…"

The guard in charge put his arm out to order his fellow officers to stop for a moment and he looked at Rima who was starting to open her eyes. "What did you just say…?"

"Mika… You know her?"

"She's my daughter, how do you know her name?"

"She's in danger. You need to let us in the village right now or your daughter will die."

"She's bluffing, don't listen to her captain." Another guard said.

The captain looked into Rima's eyes and her eyes resonated with his body, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and hopelessness. "Open the gate" He ordered. "NOW!"

The other guards did as they were told an immediately opened the gate to Blossom Village and the sight that greeted them was something the guards wished they could remove from their minds forever. Dead bodies flooded the streets of Blossom Village. The beautiful cherry and plum blossoms buried the bodies like snow does as it gently falls throughout the night. Puppets of all kind were in the Village and many of the villagers were being transformed into puppets at this moment. The majority of the puppets were on the seach for humans with Nen, there were over 1OO,OOO people in Blossom Village and over ¾ of them have already either died or have turned into puppets. Woman, children, and men, they were all getting captured and having their Nen and lives taken away from them. The guards fired at the puppets and the ones that knew Nen attacked with their powers. The guards managed to defeat a couple of the puppets but they were severely outnumbered.

"I guess we now know what's happening in Blossom Village." Killua began. "How terrible… Guess we'll have to split up and look for Chiziru, Gon go with Kurapika. Nii-Chan and Hisoka, I'll go with Rima. Our objective is Chiziru, send a flare when you find her. Go!"

"WAIT!" As the Generals were about to split up with their groups, Rima objected instantly. "We have to save the people first, isn't that our job?"

"We'll save even more people if we can stop the puppets and the quickest way to do that is to find Chiziru and extract her Nen. There's always casualties to war unfortunately, we have to do what is necessary. I'm sorry Rima but we have to. You can't save everyone."

_Remember those words Killua, 'you can't save _everyone'… "Alright, let's split up then."

Killua nodded to the other Generals and they quickly dashed off into different directions. Killua had Rima hold onto him and they quickly dashed North of the village.

. . .

The three groups spent hours fighting off puppets and looking for any clues Chiziru and they fell short. Chiziru's presence was nowhere to be found and the villagers that survived knew nothing about Chiziru. Blossom Village has fallen to the casualties of war and its leader has vanished. When Killua and Rima were looking around, Rima's head started pounding causing her to stop in her tracks. She pulled it off as nothing but then she got dizzy and was unable to walk. Killua suggested a break so she wouldn't overexert herself. They sat on a bench in a park surrounded by cherry blossom trees, the village was befitting of its name of "Blossom", it was a very beautiful village.

"Killua… do you ever think we'll find her? Do you think this war will end?"

"Of course we will. We'll find her, we'll save her and we'll save you." Killua looked at Rima with sincere eyes and as they shared a moment of silence, a cherry blossom fell on Killua's lap. He looked at it with a gentle smile and picked it up, he turned towards Rima and put it in her crimson locks.

"Eh? Killua… what is this?" Rima asked while putting her hand on the cherry blossom.

"Do you know… how beautiful you are…?"

"Eh…?" Rima was starting to blush and she put her head up to face Killua. Killua was helpless against those glistening eyes. He wanted to do everything in his power to protect Rima, to save her. He wants her to know that not everything leads to a bad ending.

Killua put his hand gently holding Rima's head and slowly leaned in closer to Rima, after a very long moment of silence, Killua's lips and Rima's met. The warm sensation Rima felt on her lips surprised her, she didn't push Killua away, she was simply in shock. "Rima… I…I like you…" Hearing such words made Rima's eyes widen.

FFSSSSSSSSSSSSSBOOM

A flare was set off east of their direction and Killua couldn't stop gazing in Rima's eyes.

"Killua, we have to go. Someone may have found Chiziru, let's go." Killua nodded at Rima and knelt in front of her with his back facing her, "Hop on" Killua gave Rima a piggyback ride and dashed to the sight of the flare.

The one who shot the flare was Kurapika, it seems the other groups have given up on looking any further in Blossom Village.

"There's no sign of her anywhere. We need to go back to the jet and go over any clues." Kurapika said.

"I can't believe we still haven't caught up to her yet" Gon said with disappointment.

"Well where exactly would you hide when everyone's looking for you?" Killua asked.

Silence fell among the group of six as they pondered the essential question. After a moment of silence, an idea struck Rima, "How about somewhere you've already looked?"

"What do you mean?" Illumi asked.

"Think about it. For example, say you're playing hide and seek and the only places you can hide would be behind a chair, behind a flower, or behind a door. Say you were hiding behind the flower and the person that's 'it' looked behind the door first, there was no one behind there. Next 'it' would look behind the chair, and there would be no one there, 'it's' last place to look would be behind the flower, but when 'it' looks, no one's there. 'It' would assume you either left or hid someplace else and was unaware of the rules but in actuality you hid behind the chair. Since 'it' already looked behind there…"

"'it' wouldn't look behind there again." Hisoka said finishing Rima's sentence.

"Exactly."

"But there a ton of places we already looked, we don't have enough time to back track to all those places" Gon said

"Who said we had to? There is one village where this all started and I'm sure that's where Chiziru is hiding because from what we know, that village has been completely destroyed. It's been at least a month since we last checked on the village, who knows what's happening there now. We have to go back, now. Ko Village is our destination, we need to go."

Everyone boarded the jet and they were headed to Ko Village. Ko Village is 8 hours from where they are now and the Generals are trying to regain as much energy as they can before reaching their destination. Kurapika and Gon were in the control room explaining the situation to Netero. Illumi was in the seating area watching the news and ended up falling asleep on the chairs. Killua was in his room and simply just lied on his bed. Rima was in her room and she just sat on her bed thinking about what happened between her and Killua earlier that day. Hisoka was in the seating area and when he noticed Illumi was asleep, Hisoka was going to carry him to his room but then he heard Ophelia's 'hoo'.

Hisoka walked over to the window and saw Ophelia with a message tied around her neck. Hisoka gently removed the ribbon and proceeded to open the letter, it read:

_Hisoka,_

_ That blood sample you had, it surely was something else. Upon extensive examination of the sample I was able to determine that the carrier of the blood is dying. This person has a very serious cancer with no known cure, this person should have died years ago but I saw something in the blood that was nearly impossible. There were traces of Nen and it was replacing the healthy cells in the blood, the cancerous cells have been 'frozen', they're trapped in a Nen barrier but the barrier is growing weaker. Whoever's blood this is, that person's going to die very soon. It seems that their Nen is keeping them alive and slowing down the cancerous process but it's weakening. I can assure you that if this person loses their Nen, they will die instantly. It will be a very long and painful death. That was everything I was able to uncover and I followed your directions exactly. Whatever you're planning Hisoka, it better be for our side._

Hisoka's eyes narrowed as he read the letter and he put it in his pocket. He went to his room and noticed Rima just sitting on her bed.

"Hisoka? Is that you?"

"If we kill your sister, she will lose her Nen which means you will lose yours as well as your life. What a secret you have Princess."

"How do you know that?"

"I know when a person's lying. You've been lying the moment we first met you."

"I had my reasons… Please, let me explain."

"Oh please do."

Rima gave a sigh and sat on her bed. She tapped the side of her bed to motion Hisoka to sit next to her, he did as she requested and sat beside her.

"You're right. The Nen Chain between my sister and I is what keeps me alive. I was diagnosed with a very serious cancer when I was 16, I was given 4 years to live and the effects of the cancer were something I didn't want to go though. My mother refused treatment and she met a man that said he could help me live a healthier life. This man taught Chiziru and I how to use Nen and how to create the Nen Chain. As long as this Nen Chain exists, I'll live as long as I'm supposed to but once it's destroyed, I'll die a long and painful death. If you kill Chiziru, if you extract my Nen, my cancer will overtake my body and all the effects will take over. I will lose my hearing, I'll have trouble breathing, my internal organs will shut down, I'll have intensive brain damage, and everything will hit me all at once. My plan was to confront Chiziru, to apologize for ruining her life and then take away mine. Killing myself will rid Chiziru of her Nen and have me go through a quick death instead of what I would go through if we kill Chiziru instead. I'm sorry I lied but I just didn't want to get too attached. I didn't want to start to care too much or love someone because it'll be over and I'll just ruin the lives of the people around me. I just didn't want you guys to be impacted by me in anyway… I…I didn't want to hurt the people that I've become friends with in anyway… I-" Rima's eyes widened at what happened next. Hisoka leaned in and kissed Rima's lips.

"It's too late. I already care. I'm already impacted. And I will find a way to save you." Hisoka looked at Rima's watery eyes with his amber eyes burning brightly.

"There's no way to save me."

"The spell to heal any ailment, if we can get Chiziru to perform that on you you'll be healthy again, we can destroy the Nen Chain, and you'll live."

"She wouldn't do that, just please. Let me do something right for once."

"You've done everything right except for now. Sacrificing your life like this won't do anything but have the world lose a special person. I _will _save you"

"Why? Why go through all this trouble?"

"Because like I said earlier, I care."

"Don't." Tears were starting to fall from Rima's eyes. "Please. Don't. I don't want to hurt you."

"Too late." Hisoka leaned in for another kiss and Rima returned his kiss.

What the two didn't know was that someone was listening to them from outside their door. A tear fell from his crystal blue eyes and he walked away with a face of sadness. Back in the room, Rima held onto Hisoka's hand and apologized.

"Hisoka… I can't do this. You and Killua, it isn't right. I'll be happy with the memory of making wonderful friends in this terrible time. Having such wonderful company, that will be the greatest thing to happen to me before I die."

"That little assassin, what exactly are your feelings?"

"I don't know…"

"And towards me?"

"I don't know…"

"What do you know Princess?"

"I'll let you know when I know myself…"

Hisoka kissed Rima on her forehead and told her that they should head to bed before arriving in Ko Village. Rima settled herself in her bed and faced in Hisoka's direction. Hisoka also lied in his bed, facing toward Rima.

_*Flashback*_

_Killua put his hand gently holding Rima's head and slowly leaned in closer to Rima, after a very long moment of silence, Killua's lips and Rima's met. The warm sensation Rima felt on her lips surprised her, she didn't push Killua away, she was simply in shock. "Rima… I…I like you…"_

_*End Flashback*_

_*Flashback*_

_I-" Rima's eyes widened at what happened next. Hisoka leaned in and kissed Rima's lips._

_"It's too late. I already care. I'm already impacted. And I will find a way to save you."_

_*End Flashback*_

Rima turned around facing the wall, she closed her eyes and gave a small sigh.

_I'm sorry you two… I don't know how to respond to your feelings… I don't know if I can… Please. I don't want to hurt you…_


End file.
